Last surviving veteran of First World War dies aged 110 - Telegraph UK News Last surviving veteran of First World War dies aged 110 Florence Green, the world's last surviving First World War veteran has died, marking the end of an era in British history. Florence Green died two weeks before her 111th birthday Photo: Masons 10:46AM GMT 07 Feb 2012 Mrs Green passed away in her sleep at a care home in Norfolk just two weeks before her 111th birthday. The great-grandmother signed up to the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) 93 years ago in September 1918, when she was aged just 17. She was the last surviving person to have served in WWI following the death of British-born sailor Claude Choules in Australia last year. During the First World War she worked at Narborough Airfield and RAF Marham, Norfolk, as an Officer's Mess steward. Mrs Green, who was born in London, lived with her daughter May, 90, in King's Lynn, Norfolk, but had moved into Briar House care home shortly before Christmas where she died on Saturday.

Related Articles 05 May 2011 Her family paid tribute to the veteran, describing her as "a great woman". Her daughter May said: "She so nearly made it to her 111th birthday. It is very sad. We are grateful for all the nice tributes." Mrs Green's younger daughter June Evetts, from Oundle, Northants., 76, said: "I'm very proud of her and she was very proud of the recognition she received." Mrs Green spent her war days working ''all hours'' serving officers breakfast, lunch and dinner and would often spend time wandering the base simply ''admiring the pilots''. Before her death she said: ''I enjoyed my time in the WRAF. There were plenty of people at the airfields where I worked and they were all very good company. ''I would work every hour God sent but I had dozens of friends on the base and we had a great deal of fun in our spare time. In many ways I had the time of my life. ''I met dozens of pilots and would go on dates. I had the opportunity to go up in one of the planes but I was scared of flying.

''It was a lovely experience and I'm very proud.'' Her story came to light after Andrew Holmes, a British correspondent for the US-based Gerontology Research Group, traced her name using the National Archive. Mr Holmes tracks and validates the ages of people over 110 and also keeps track of British men and women who are older than 107. He was stunned to locate a service record on the National Archive for Florence Beatrice Patterson, the grandmother's maiden name. Mr Holmes traced the records further and was surprised to find Florence had joined the WRAF in September 1918 - two months before the war ended on November 11, 1918. He said: ''It's a common misconception that a veteran must be someone who saw action or fighting in the trenches. ''A veteran is someone who served in one of the Armed forces, regardless of their role - a medic, an ambulance driver or a waitress - they all count. ''Obviously the last surviving veterans of any war are likely to be the youngest and therefore would not have served long.'' Last May the only living male First World War combat veteran, British-born sailor Claude Choules, died in Australia at the age of 110.

Britain's last survivor of the First World War trenches Harry Patch - known as 'The Last Tommy' - who died in July 2009 aged 111. RAF Squadron Leader Paula Willmot said RAF Marham, where Mrs Green was stationed for seven months, would pay its respects to the veteran "in true style". She said: "We will be supporting the family at the funeral. We are sending a number of our stewards as a tribute to her. "We kept in contact with her and visited her just before Christmas to give her a Christmas cake, which she was delighted with. "We were due to visit her on Friday to celebrate her 111th birthday. It is a very sad occassion, but what an amazing woman. "She is very much a Norfolk lass. We have very good memories of her. RAF Marham will be paying its respects in true style." Florence celebrated her 110th birthday on February 19, last year with her daughter May, who was her full-time carer. She is also survived by her son Bob, 86, who lives in Edinburgh, and four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

She was married to husband Walter, a railway porter in 1920, for 50 years until his death in 1970. Andrew Holmes, UK correspondent for the Gerontology Research Group, confirmed Mrs Green was the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world. He said: "I am saddened by her death. Florence was the sixth oldest person in the UK and the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world." Sian Taylor, deputy manager of Briar House care home in King's Lynn, Norfolk, said Mrs Green "always had a smile on her face." She said: "Florence came to us on November 23 last year. She was a lovely, very well mannered woman and she always had a smile on her face. "She was immobile, but would talk about the old days to the carers and other residents who would visit her in her room.

"A carer took her some water at 5am on Saturday and sadly found she had died in her sleep." Harry Patch, Britain's last surviving soldier of the Great War, dies at 111 | World news | The Guardian The Observer Harry Patch, Britain's last surviving soldier of the Great War, dies at 111 It was only when he turned 100 that the veteran of Ypres began to speak about the horrors he had seen The last surviving British Tommy, Harry Patch attends the launch of The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, Weston Super Mare, Britain. 27 Oct 2007 Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Rex Features Close This article is 7 years old It was just 11 years ago, when he turned 100, that Harry Patch first began to talk about his experiences fighting in the first world war. It was a week ago that he became the last surviving soldier in the country who had seen at first hand the horror of the trenches.

Yesterday, Harry Patch died peacefully in his bed at his residential home in Wells, Somerset, a man who spent his last years urging his friends and many admirers never to forget the 9.7 million young men who perished during the 1914-18 war. Last night, it was announced that a special commemoration service for the entire generation of British soldiers who died in the first world war will be held at Westminster Abbey, attended by the Queen and military and political dignitaries. "War isn't worth one life," Patch, nicknamed "the last fighting Tommy", would say. So traumatised was he by his experiences at the 1917 battle of Passchendaele - which claimed the lives of 70,000 men - that each year Patch locked himself away in a private vigil for his fallen friends. It was seven days ago that Henry Allingham, 113, Britain's oldest man and a fellow veteran of the trenches, died; with both men has gone Britain's last living link to one of the most traumatic events in modern history. The prime minister said it was the passing of the "noblest of all the generations".

"I had the honour of meeting Harry, and I share his family's grief at the passing of a great man. The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten," said Gordon Brown. "We say today with still greater force, 'We will remember them'." Harry Patch was born on 17 June 1898 in Combe Down, near Bath in Somerset. He left school at 15 to learn his trade as a plumber. He turned 18 just as conscription was brought in and, after six months' training, he was on the frontline with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He was in the trenches at Ypres between June and September 1917, where he and his gang of five machine gunners made a pact not to kill an enemy soldier if they could help it: they would aim for the legs. In September 1917, a shell exploded above Patch's head, killing three of his comrades; he was hit by shrapnel in the lower abdomen, but survived. Every year since then Harry would remember that day.

"He would just lock himself away and remember his friends," said author Max Arthur, whose 2005 book Last Post documented the words from the last 21 survivors of the war. "Last week, there was just one; now there is no one alive who has seen what Harry saw in the trenches. Harry said it was just the most depressing place on earth, hell with a lid on," he said. Arthur said the horrors of Passchendaele stayed with Patch throughout his life. Patch exhibited the signs of post-traumatic stress and even opening a fridge and being confronted by its interior light sometimes became a "traumatic experience, the light resembling an explosion". After the war, Patch returned to his trade as a plumber and married Ada, whom he had met while convalescing. They were married in 1919 and had two children, Dennis and Roy. His wife died in 1976 and his sons have also since died. Too old to fight in 1939, Patch became a maintenance manager at a US army camp and joined the Auxiliary Fire Service.

He retired in 1963 and in 1980 married again, to Jean, only to be widowed a second time five years ago. His third partner, Doris, who lived in the same retirement home, died last year. It was only on his 100th birthday that Patch came into the spotlight, when for the first time he allowed reporters to visit his care home. His autobiography, The Last Fighting Tommy, written with Richard van Emden, was published in 2007. "He was the last of that generation and the poignancy of that is almost overwhelming," said van Emden yesterday. "He remembered all of those who died and suffered, and every time he was honoured he knew it was for all of those who fought." He said that his conversations with Patch were "a real education". "He had a sparkle about him, a dry sense of humour. He was one of the most rewarding people to be with." As well as launching poppy appeals for the British Legion, Patch became an agony uncle columnist for men's magazine FHM and he even had a cider named after him.

In 1999, he received the Légion d'honneur medal awarded by the French to 350 surviving veterans of the Western Front, dedicating it to his three fallen friends. He revisited the Ypres battlefield and British and German war cemeteries, placing a wreath on a German grave. Patch fervently believed war was "organised murder". "It was not worth it," he said. "It was not worth one, let alone all the millions." Prince Charles was among those to pay tribute yesterday. "Harry always cherished the extraordinary camaraderie that the appalling conditions engendered in the battalion and remained loyal to the end." Yesterday, the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said he spoke on behalf of all ranks of the army in expressing sadness at the news. "He was the last of a generation that in youth was steadfast in its duty in the face of cruel sacrifice and we give thanks for his life - as well as those of his comrades - for upholding the same values and freedom that we continue to cherish and fight for today." The funeral is in Wells Cathedral.

The life of Harry Patch, Britain's last surviving soldier of the first world war, who has died at 111 Published: 26 Jul 2009 Florence Green Dead: Last World War One Veteran Dies Aged 110 | The Huffington Post Florence Green Dead: Last World War One Veteran Dies Aged 110 07/02/2012 13:29 | Updated 09 February 2012 1.1k Mason's The world's last surviving First World War veteran has died - marking the end of an era in British history. The great-grandmother signed up to the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) 93 years ago in September 1918, when she was aged just 17. She was the last surviving person to have seen active service in WWI following the death of British-born sailor Claude Choules in Australia last year. During the First World War she worked at Narborough Airfield and RAF Marham, Norfolk, as an Officer's Mess steward.

Mrs Green, who was born in London, lived with her daughter May, 90, in King's Lynn, Norfolk, but had moved into Briar House care home shortly before Christmas where she died on Saturday. Her proud family paid tribute to the veteran, describing her as "a great woman". May said: "She so nearly made it to her 111th birthday. It is very sad. We are grateful for all the nice tributes." Mrs Green's younger daughter June Evetts, from Oundle, Northants., 76, said: "I'm very proud of her and she was very proud of the recognition she received." Florence spent her war days working ''all hours'' serving officers breakfast, lunch and dinner and would often spend time wandering the base simply ''admiring the pilots''. Before her death she said: ''I enjoyed my time in the WRAF. There were plenty of people at the airfields where I worked and they were all very good company. ''I would work every hour God sent but I had dozens of friends on the base and we had a great deal of fun in our spare time. In many ways I had the time of my life.

''I met dozens of pilots and would go on dates. I had the opportunity to go up in one of the planes but I was scared of flying. ''It was a lovely experience and I'm very proud.'' Her story came to light after Andrew Holmes, a British correspondent for the US-based Gerontology Research Group , traced her name using the National Archive. She was the last surviving person to have seen active service in WWI Mr Holmes tracks and validates the ages of people over 110 and also keeps track of British men and women who are older than 107. He was stunned to locate a service record on the National Archive for Florence Beatrice Patterson, the tragic grandmother's maiden name. Mr Holmes traced the records further and was surprised to find Florence had joined the WRAF in September 1918 - two months before the war ended on November 11, 1918. He said: ''It's a common misconception that a veteran must be someone who saw action or fighting in the trenches. ''A veteran is someone who served in one of the Armed forces, regardless of their role - a medic, an ambulance driver or a waitress - they all count.

''Obviously the last surviving veterans of any war are likely to be the youngest and therefore would not have served long.'' Last May the only living male First World War combat veteran, British-born sailor Claude Choules, died in Australia at the age of 110. Britain's last survivor of the First World War trenches Harry Patch - known as 'The Last Tommy' - who died in July 2009 aged 111. RAF Squadron Leader Paula Willmot said RAF Marham, where Florence was stationed for seven months, would pay its respects to the veteran "in true style". She said: "We will be supporting the family at the funeral. We are sending a number of our stewards as a tribute to her. "We kept in contact with her and visited her just before Christmas to give her a Christmas cake, which she was delighted with. "We were due to visit her on Friday to celebrate her 111th birthday. It is a very sad occasion, but what an amazing woman. "She is very much a Norfolk lass. We have very good memories of her.

RAF Marham will be paying its respects in true style." Florence celebrated her 110th birthday on February 19, last year with her daughter May, who was her full-time carer. She is also survived by her son Bob, 86, who lives in Edinburgh, and four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was married to husband Walter, a railway porter in 1920, for 50 years until his death in 1970. Andrew Holmes, UK correspondent for the Gerontology Research Group, today confirmed Florence was the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world. He said: "I am saddened by her death. Florence was the sixth oldest person in the UK and the only remaining WW1 veteran in the world." - BBC NEWS | UK | England | Last Post salute for WWI veteran Last Post salute for WWI veteran Advertisement Tributes were paid to the ''long and courageous life'' of Harry Patch The funeral service for Britain's last surviving World War I veteran Harry Patch who died aged 111 has taken place at Wells Cathedral in Somerset.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Wells as his coffin was taken to the cathedral where the service was relayed on big screens to crowds outside. At the end of the funeral service two bugles sounded the Last Post. Mr Patch's coffin has been taken from the cathedral for a private burial in accordance with his wishes. Mr Patch, who was born in 1898 in Combe Down, near Bath, died on 25 July at Fletcher House care home in Wells, Somerset, south west England. Harry Patch was the oldest man in Europe when he died aged 111 He was the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches during the Great War. At the time of his death Mr Patch was the oldest man in Europe, following the death exactly a week earlier of 113-year-old Henry Allingham, from East Sussex, who had been the world's oldest man. Representatives from the Belgian, French and German governments all took part in the service to show Mr Patch's respect for soldiers on all sides of the war. Marie-France Andri, Belgian Charge D'Affaires, read from Harry Patch's memoir The Last Fighting Tommy.

Pensioner Jim Ross, speaking on behalf of Mr Patch's friends, said: "He realised he was one of a dwindling band and that as that band decreased in numbers, he was becoming more and more significant. By Jon Kay, BBC News, in Wells With dramatic timing, the sky turned black and the heavens opened at the very moment Harry Patch's coffin emerged from Wells Cathedral. But, rather than dash for cover, the huge crowd on the Green outside stood perfectly still and applauded the hearse in the pouring rain. Wells is England's smallest city, but it didn't feel like that today. Thousands of people lined the narrow streets - six or seven deep in places. One thing that struck me was how young many of the mourners were here - teenagers, who are the same age as Harry when he was sent to the trenches. I spotted one young man wearing surfing shorts and a black tie. Harry would have smiled and approved. I was also struck by the number of people who had travelled here from across Europe. He wanted his funeral service to be about peace and reconciliation between nations. "He had the choice of either creeping away into the background or making his message known.

"Harry knew that by speaking out, the memories would come back, the demons I call them, would come back to torment and torture him. "I believe they did, but I believe Harry made the decision because he wanted to get his message broadcast. "His prime message is that we should settle disputes by negotiation and compromise, not by war." Soldiers from four countries acted as pall bearers for the coffin which was applauded by crowds of people as it was driven through the city of Wells. Speaking during the service the Very Reverend John Clarke, Dean of Wells said: "Harry was an ordinary Somerset man, a plumber who tended his vegetable gardens, looked after his chickens but he became extraordinary, someone who was an icon for our nation and for western Europe." Veterans Minister Kevan Jones said: "Today marks the passing of a generation, and of a man who dedicated his final years to spreading the message of peace and reconciliation.

Harry Patch's coffin was carried into Wells Cathedral by soldiers "Active participation in the Great War is now no longer part of living memory in this country, but Harry Patch will continue to be a symbol of the bravery and sacrifice shown by him and those he served with." His great-nephew David Tucker, from Devizes, Wiltshire, said: "I feel extremely proud to have carried Harry's medals today. "Echoing Harry's message of peace and reconciliation, I felt I was carrying the medals of all those who fought in the Great War, reflecting the service, dedication and sacrifice they gave to their countries." Harry's words of peace remembered Mr Patch's coffin was carried by six private soldiers of the Rifles Regiment, the successor to Mr Patch's Regiment, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Two soldiers from the armies of Belgium, France and Germany also took part in the funeral. The Ministry of Defence said the involvement of soldiers from France, Belgium and Germany symbolised Mr Patch's desire for reconciliation and his view that, "irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims". The Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Gloucester attended the funeral service.

Mr Patch, who left school at the age of 15 to train as a plumber, was a machine-gunner in the trenches and served as a private from June to September 1917. He was married twice, first in 1919 in Hadley, Shropshire, to Ada - a marriage which lasted 60 years - and then to Jean when he was 81. From 2003 he had a third partner, Doris, who lived in the same care home and died two years ago. Harry Patch | First world war veteran | Obituary | World news | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close Nine decades ago, in 1917, Harry Patch, who has died aged 111, could have instantly joined the half a million German and Commonwealth soldiers ripped apart in the mud of the battle of Passchendaele. When the first world war was over and he was back in the West Country, running a plumbing business, he never mentioned those months. They were unspeakable. Only when he reached 100 could he look back.

His book The Last Fighting Tommy (2007, written with Richard van Emden) found him, at 109, not only the last British soldier to have seen combat on the western front but the oldest first-time author. His longevity had prompted a remarkable perspective on working England across the 20th century, from a man who, in his youth, had known people born in the early 19th century. Patch grew up in Combe Down, Somerset, from whose quarries nearby Bath was built. His stonemason father, William, had met his future wife, Elizabeth, when she was head of the servant staff at the house of a doctor. From modest origins, William built houses for rent, while raising three sons and growing vegetables. Deputed to load a pig into a van, young Harry saw the animal escape, and knock into a beehive, whose occupants seared its hide. Coughs and colds were "treated with honey and vinegar, which tasted horrible, as well as goose grease which was smeared on your chest". At a local school, a visiting antiquarian, the Rev Alfred Richardson, helped him to relish archaeology with Roman remains as "hands-on history".

Patch's childhood enthusiasm for John Meade Falkner's Moonfleet (1898), set in Dorset, came alive when an ancient quarry shifted and disturbed a neighbouring house. His father found a tunnnel entrance by their well, and they went 15 metres (50ft) below, beside a spring. "I was fascinated. I could see ... a great saw, teeth an inch long, two stones with a cut between, used to sharpen the saw, and the files stuck in a crevice. It appeared that the workmen had left a shift, never to return." This was more vivid than his recollection of the Titanic's sinking in April 1912. Eight months later he began a five-year building apprenticeship. Meanwhile his mother was shocked when his brother William joined the army: in peacetime only "scruffs and villains" did so. With war, Patch waited for October 1916 call-up and, by June 1917, was a lance corporal in France with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

Two weeks after the third battle of Ypres, Passchendaele, had begun on 31 July 1917, Patch duly went over the top. "Others were just blown to pieces," he would write in the 21st century, "it wasn't a case of seeing them with a nice bullet hole in their tunic, far from it, and there I was, only 19 years old. I felt sick." Impassioned yet cool, he saw weeks of horror; a dying comrade called, "shoot me" but immediately died with the word, "mother". Haunted by that, and shielded by a dead German, Patch, a crack shot, fired mercifully at a German's shoulder, but the man stumbled on, bayonet ready; an easy kill, but still Patch "shot him above the ankle, and above the knee. I brought him down. He called out something in German, I don't suppose it was complimentary". Then, on 22 September, Patch was badly wounded in the chest. Recuperating back in the West Country, he combined recovery with plumbing studies and met his future first wife, Ada.

Chest pains precluded a return to France, but he was not demobilised for another year, not until after Armistice Day. Indeed, after 11 November 1918 he was on a firing range with other Tommies when a jobs- worth officer so riled them that there was a stand-off between his revolver and their rifles: "Had he not backed down, he would have been shot, there's no doubt about it." A brigadier, alert to the officer's attitude, vindicated them, but for a moment it had looked a close call. Patch had always felt, he wrote in The Last Fighting Tommy, that "politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder". Disillusioned by war, but buoyed by marriage, Patch decided against police service in favour of plumbing's independence. Despite rising unemployment, his own firm in Bath prospered. A plan to join his son in Chicago was foiled by the outbreak of the second world war.

As a volunteer fireman he was on duty during the Luftwaffe's 1942 attacks on Bath, and his account of civilian life and preparations for D-day in June 1944 from his vantage point as maintenance manager at a US army camp is as engrossing as his tales of trench life. At the start of the 1950s his brother George retired to a house near Moonfleet's Dorset setting – the village of Fleet. Years of weekend foraging culminated for the brothers in the uncovering of a tunnel crucial to the novel. In 1963 Patch retired; 15 years later Ada died. Throughout those times, his marriage to Jean two years later, his second widowerhood in 1984, and the deaths of Dennis and Roy, his two sons by Ada, Patch never spoke of the first world war. Only at 100, with another companion, Doris, who died in 2007, did he broach the subject, and finally he returned to Ypres at the age of 105. "The idea was that I would lay a wreath to the memory of my dead friends, but I couldn't.

I looked from the [coach] window and the memories flooded back and I wept, and the wreath was laid on my behalf." Other returns included for the BBC's The Last Tommy (2005), when he met a German veteran, Charles Kuentz. Patch told the then prime minister, Tony Blair, that nobody during the first world war should have been shot for cowardice. "War is organised murder," he insisted, "and nothing else." He said that, for him, 11 November was "just showbusiness". Instead, "the day I lost my pals", 22 September 1917, was his true remembrance day. Trench dogs had fought over biscuits snaffled from dead men's tunics, and Patch had thought, "what are we doing that's really any different? Two civilised nations, British and German, fighting for our lives." As he reached 110, Patch felt honoured to have a poem written about him by the then poet laureate, Andrew Motion, who had visited him for a filmed interview.

The poet, whose first work had been about the Great war, felt so transported across time that he became oblivious to the cameras' presence and recalled that Patch's hands felt like twigs and his voice "was very low, almost worn out ... there were lengthy pauses ... gradually I realised they were to let him collect himself". Motion's poem, The Five Acts of Harry Patch, depends, however, upon a knowledge of the veteran's life; without that, many of the references do not have the dramatic effect of Patch's own account. It opens, though, with an evocation of an Edwardian summer and, inevitably, closes in the centenarian's nursing home, with his terror, memory flooded with sniper fire, when staff open the linen cupboard opposite his room: "...

all it takes / is someone switching on the light – there is that flash, / or was until you said, and the staff blacked the window." Brood, however, he did not: "If they've written the obituary, all I can say is that I hope to live long enough that they will have to update it, and more than once!" • Henry John Patch, born 17 June 1898; died 25 July 2009 The life of Harry Patch, Britain's last surviving soldier of the first world war, who has died at 111 Published: 26 Jul 2009 BBC - Somerset - In Profile: Harry Patch In Profile: Harry Patch "It doesn't do to go back, the memories are so, what shall I say, so sad." HAVE YOUR SAY Leave your memories of Harry here He's a national hero and embodies the sacrifice made by thousands of British troops who fought on the Western Front in the First World War. Harry was the last surviving British soldier to have served in the third battle of Ypres (the battle of Passchendaele) in which more than 70,000 British troops died.

He held the record for being the oldest man alive in the UK. Harry put his long life down to clean living. "I neither smoke, drink nor gamble. The three sins, leave them alone," he said. "For many years in Shropshire, I lived quite close to the Welsh mountains. Fresh air, no petrol and no cars, that's the secret." It took Harry more than 80 years to break his silence about his experiences in the war. I mean, why should I go out and kill somebody I never knew and for what reason? I wasn't at all patriotic. I went and did what was asked of me and no more. Harry Patch As a coping mechanism in the trenches, he used to make up alternative endings for nursery rhymes. And off the top of his head he came up with this: "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jill forgot to take her pill and now she's got a daughter." Growing up in Somerset Harry was born in Somerset in 1898, the youngest of three brothers. Christened Henry John Patch, he was named after his uncle Harry who was a professional gardener in Weston-super-Mare.

Harry first attracted media attention in 1992 but it wasn't for his role in the trenches. That connection wasn't made until several years later when the number of surviving WWI veterans significantly began to dwindle. Harry re-visited the Ypres battle field in 2004 Like many of his generation he was reluctant to speak about his war time experience and had maintained a silence for 80 years. He got his first mention in a local paper at the age of 92 for helping Bath City Council to explore a disused limestone quarry it didn't know existed. He had always been interested in history, but his knowledge of the sealed mine came from playing there as a boy growing up in Combe Down. In his autobiography, The Last Fighting Tommy, Harry said his parents did not think he was as bright as his eldest brother George who went to the fee- paying school in nearby Monkton Combe. Instead, Harry went to the CofE village school where he became a choir boy and winger for the school rugby team. He recalled many happy days running through fruit orchards. He said he dreamed of becoming an engine driver and was also a passionate rower and used to compete against Monkton Combe College.

His father was a master stonemason and all three sons followed him into the building trade. George became a cabinet maker, William was a bricklayer and Harry was training to be a plumber when the war broke out. Aversion to war Harry didn't want to join up and waited until military conscription was enforced before enrolling. At the start of the war Harry advanced quickly in his trade because the army had lured many able-bodied plumbers away. In his autobiography he said: "Somerset people are not warlike - it is not something in our make-up. "I didn't want to go and fight anyone, but it was a case of having to. In full: Poem for Harry "When it came, army life didn't appeal to me at all and when I found out how rough and tumble it could be, I liked it even less. "I mean, why should I go out and kill somebody I never knew and for what reason? I wasn't at all patriotic. I went and did what was asked of me and no more." Harry said he knew what to expect because his middle brother William had fought in the first battle in Ypres.

William had been sent home after being shot in the leg with shrapnel digging the trenches where Harry was later to serve. Harry began his army training in 1917 and was recruited in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry as a Lewis gunner assistant. His role was to carry and assemble spare parts for the machine gun and to make sure it worked. He spent four months as a private in Ypres from June to September. On 22 September a light shell, known as a Whizz Bang, exploded above his head killing three members of his team. Harry was pierced by shrapnel in the lower abdomen region but survived. He was very close to his team mates and said: "I'd taken an absolute liking to the men in the team, you could almost say love." September 22 is his personal remembrance day. Harry always had a strong Christian Faith but said he struggled for a while after the death of his friends, believing himself agnostic at one point. Civilian life In 1918 Harry met and married his wife Ada Billington. He was stationed in a convalescence unit in Sutton Coldfield and met Ada in the street coming down the steps from the cinema.

Harry was running for a bus and knocked her over. They were married for 58 years and had two sons Dennis and Roy. After the war Harry returned to plumbing in Somerset and worked for his father. Notably he worked on the roof of the Wills Memorial Building in Park Street, Bristol. He sat his professional exams and started his own plumbing business in Bath. Harry was 41 and living in Compton Dundon when World War II started. He was considered too old to fight and became a maintenance manager at a US army camp in Somerset and joined the Auxiliary Fire Service in Bath. As part of the AFS he attended four air raids, one in Bath, two in Bristol and one in Weston. At the end of the war he moved his family to Preston Grove in Yeovil and worked for ER Carter in West Henford, never letting onto his colleagues that he had served in WWI. Harry retired from plumbing in 1963 and enjoyed pottering in his garden at home until his wife died in 1976 aged 81 following a massive stroke. Last man standing Their eldest son Dennis, an accountant, started drinking heavily after Ada's death even selling Harry's war medals to finance the habit.

In 1980 Harry moved to Wells and re-married a widow called Jean. I went and did what was asked of me and no more. Harry Patch Dennis died shortly after from liver failure aged 65 and Jean died of cancer in 1984. Harry also outlived his younger son Roy, a builder, who died in 2002. In 1999 Harry received the Legion D'Honneur medal awarded by the French government to around 350 surviving WWI veterans who fought on the Western Front. He dedicated the award to the memory of his three friends who didn't make it. After his name was published on the honours list in the national press, reporters began to show more of an interest in Harry's story. They eventually persuaded him to break his silence about his experience of the war. It became apparent that he was a good speaker and he was invited to speak at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in 2001. As the number of veterans dwindled Harry's fame grew.

He launched numerous poppy appeals, became an agony uncle columnist for lads magazine FHM, had his portrait painted by the artist and former England wicket keeper, Jack Russell, and had a special edition cider named after him. In 2004 Shepton Mallet based Gaymer Cider Company brought out 106 bottles of Patch Pride as a tribute for each year of Harry's life. Long Live Harry At the age of 105 Harry re-visited the Ypres battle field and in 2004 he returned for a BBC series to meet German veteran Charles Kuentz. In 2003 Harry met his partner Doris who lived in the same retirement home in Wells. Harry donated £29,000 to the RNLI for a lifeboat, which he dedicated to the memory of Doris, who died in 2007. In 2009, Harry was made an Officer of the French Legion of Honour. When interviewed for BBC Somerset Harry said he put his long life down to his desire to keep out of arguments. His friends attributed it to his strong Christian beliefs, on which he based his life and which they said had probably helped to sustain him.

The British Tommy, Tommy Atkins The British Tommy, Tommy Atkins Navigation By Ben Johnson | Comments It is 1794 in Flanders, at the height of the Battle of Boxtel. The Duke of Wellington is with his first command, the 33rd Regiment of Foot, who have been bloodily engaged in hand-to-hand fighting, when he comes across a soldier lying mortally wounded in the mud. It is Private Thomas Atkins. “It’s all right, sir, all in a day’s work,” the brave soldier says just before he dies. It is now 1815 and the ‘Iron Duke’ is 46 years old. He has been approached by the War Office for a suggestion for a name that could be used to personify the brave British soldier, to be used as an example name in a publication to show how a ‘Soldier’s Pocket Book’ should be filled out. Thinking back to the Battle of Boxtel, The Duke suggests ‘Private Thomas Atkins’. This is just one explanation* for the origin of the term ‘Tommy Atkins’, now used to refer to a common soldier in the British army.

The term was used quite widely, and indeed rather contemptuously, in the mid 19th century. Rudyard Kipling sums this up in his poem ‘Tommy’, one of his Barrack-Room Ballards (1892) in which Kipling contrasts the mean way in which the soldier was treated in peace time, with the way he was praised as soon as he was needed to defend or fight for his country. His poem "Tommy", written from the soldier’s point of view, raised the public’s awareness of the need for a change of attitude towards the common soldier. 'I went into a public-‘ouse to get a pint of beer, /The publican ‘e ups and sez, "We serve no red-coats here." /The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fir to die, /I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I: /O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, ‘a’ "Tommy, go away"; /But it’s "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play - /The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play.

/O it’s "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play. 'I went into a theatre as sober as could be, /They gave a drunk civilian room but ‘adn’t none for me; /They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls, /But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! They’ll shove me in the stalls! /For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ "Tommy, wait outside"; /But it’s "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper’s on the tide - /The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide, /O it’s "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper’s on the tide...'You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all, /We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational. /Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face /The Widow’s uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.

/For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ "Chuck him out, the brute!" /But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot; /An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please; /An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool - you bet that Tommy sees!' Rudyard Kipling Kipling helped to change the public’s attitude towards the common soldier in the late Victorian era . Nowadays the term ‘Tommy’ is more often associated with the soldiers of World War I and is used with affection and respect for their bravery and heroism, much as Wellington had in mind when he suggested the name back in 1815. Harry Patch, who died aged 111 in 2009, was known as the "Last Tommy" because he was the last surviving British soldier who fought in World War I .

We will conclude this article with some immortal lines from perhaps the world's best bad poet, the Bard of Dundee William McGonagall , who responded to what he saw as the disparaging tone of Kipling towards the British Tommy with his own poem from 1898, ‘Lines in Praise of Tommy Atkins’. Unfortunately it appears that McGonagall may have misunderstood Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballards completely: he seems to be defending the ‘Tommy’ against what he imagines is Kipling’s opinion of him – ‘a beggar’ - and has entirely missed the whole point of Kipling’s poems. Lines in Praise of Tommy Atkins (1898) Success to Tommy Atkins, he’s a very brave man, And to deny it there’s few people can; And to face his foreign foes he’s never afraid, Therefore he’s not a beggar, as Rudyard Kipling has said. No, he’s paid by our Government, and is worthy of his hire; And from our shores in time of war he makes our foes retire, He doesn’t need to beg; no, nothing so low; No, he considers it more honourable to face a foreign foe.

No, he’s not a beggar, he’s a more useful man, And, as Shakespeare has said, his life’s but a span; And at the cannon’s mouth he seeks for reputation, He doesn’t go from door to door seeking a donation. Oh, think of Tommy Atkins when from home far away, Lying on the battlefield, earth’s cold clay; And a stone or his knapsack pillowing his head, And his comrades lying near by him wounded and dead. And while lying there, poor fellow, he thinks of his wife at home, And his heart bleeds at the thought, and he does moan; And down his cheek flows many a silent tear, When he thinks of his friends and children dear. Kind Christians, think of him when far, far away, Fighting for his Queen and Country without dismay; May God protect him wherever he goes, And give him strength to conquer his foes. To call a soldier a beggar is a very degrading name, And in my opinion it’s a very great shame; And the man that calls him a beggar is not the soldier’s friend, And no sensible soldier should on him depend.

A soldier is a man that ought to be respected, And by his country shouldn’t be neglected; For he fights our foreign foes, and in danger of his life, Leaving behind him his relatives and his dear wife. Then hurrah for Tommy Atkins, he’s the people’s friend, Because when foreign foes assail us he does us defend; He is not a beggar, as Rudyard Kipling has said, No, he doesn’t need to beg, he lives by his trade. And in conclusion I will say, Don’t forget his wife and children when he’s far away; But try and help them all you can, For remember Tommy Atkins is a very useful man. William McGonagall *Another version is that the origin of the term ‘Tommy Atkins’ can be traced back to as early as 1745 when a letter was sent from Jamaica concerning a mutiny amongst the troops in which it was mentioned that 'Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly'. Tweet If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

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The Class 43 locomotive was unveiled in Bristol by Harry's grandson last year Credit: ITV News The train is being largely manned by staff at Great Western Rail who are also armed forces veterans. 10:06 Harry Patch was the last survivor of the First World War trenches. Credit: ITV West Country Harry Patch, the last survivor of the First World War trenches, is to have a train named after him. The Class 43 locomotive will be unveiled at Bristol Temple Meads station this morning by his grandson, Roger Patch. Harry, who was born in Combe Down near Bath, died in 2009 at the age of 111. HARRY PATCH 17 June 1898 - 25 July 2009 - YouTube HARRY PATCH 17 June 1898 - 25 July 2009 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Sep 19, 2009 Category

Question: What was the name of the last surviving "Tommy", from World War I, who died in 2009, aged 111?
Answer: HARRY PATCH